Judge in Oracle-Google trial says APIs can't be copyrighted

Oracle's case against Android has been destroyed

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The judge in Oracle's copyright and patent suit against Google's Android OS ruled that the allegedly infringing Java APIs can not be copyrighted. Therefore, Oracle has no case.

Judge William Alsup, who reportedly has coding experience, announced his decision on Thursday, saying that Google did not infringe on copyrights held by Sun Microsystems (acquired by Oracle in 2009) because those copyright don't exist.

Oracle's suit claimed that Google's Android operating system was built on no less than 37 Java APIs that infringed on Sun Microsystem's copyrights.

Yesterday, Alsup overrode that decision, saying, "To accept Oracle's claim would be to allow anyone to copyright one version of code to carry out a system of commands and thereby bar all others from writing their own different versions to carry out all or part of the same commands."

Are APIs a free-for-all resource?

However, Alsup noted that "this order does not hold that Java API packages are free for all to use without license. Rather, it holds on the specific facts of this case, the particular elements replicated by Google were free for all to use under the Copyright Act."

Oracle's claim would allow anyone to copyright one version of code to carry out a system of commands and bar others from writing their own versions to carry out all or part of the same commands.

Google said in a statement: "The court's decision upholds the principle that open and interoperable computer languages form an essential basis for software development. It's a good day for collaboration and innovation."

Oracle reportedly responded that the ruling will make defending IP rights all the more difficult going forward. They plan to appeal the ruling.

Other portions of the case could see Google paying as much as $150,000 to Oracle, a paltry victory when compared with the billions that Oracle hoped to win.

The jury also determined that Google did not infringe on two Sun Microsystems patents raised by Oracle in the suit.